The Change Project / Mode command allows you to select the Project and/or ProVal mode of operation (aka computational mode, defined below) in which to work. It also allows you to create, modify, rename, copy and erase the definitions of Projects.

When you select the Change Project / Mode command, you enter the Project Library dialog box and are presented with a list (under the Select a project to use parameter) of all the Projects defined within the current client. In addition, the list will contain entries for the “Universe” Project for each of the modes. Projects are subsets of the client that provide access only to some objects that have been defined, whereas the universe (entire mode) allows access to all objects in the client. For example, in the universe mode, all items, or objects, in the Benefit Definitions library will be visible, whereas in a Project that is a subset of the mode, some of the Benefit Definition library entries might be hidden from view.

In the Project Library, you may take the following actions:

• Enter an existing Project, either by double-clicking its name in the list or by selecting it (with a single click) and then clicking the Open button. The selected Project and its associated mode will then be displayed in the tool bar at the top of the screen (immediately below the ProVal menus).

• Create a new Project, by clicking the New button, which leads to the Project Definition dialog box, in which you provide ProVal with the information needed to define the new Project.

• Edit an existing Project, by selecting it from the list (with a single click) and then clicking the Edit button, which leads to the Project Definition dialog box, in which you can modify the definition of this Project. Only one Project may be edited at a time and universe Projects may not be edited.

The parameters of the Project definition dialog box are discussed in a separate section at the end of this article.

Click the Rename button to change a Project’s name. Universe projects may not be renamed.

Click the Copy button to make a copy of the highlighted Project(s). Copied projects will have the same computational mode and unhidden objects as the original Project(s). Multiple Projects may be selected to be copied at once; however, universe projects may not be copied.

Click the Erase button to erase the highlighted Project(s). Note that erasing a Project does not erase the unhidden objects associated with that Project; it merely deletes this definition the Project denotes of a subset of the computational mode. Multiple Projects may be selected to be erased at once; however, universe projects may not be erased.

 

Project Definition dialog box parameters

Project Name may be arbitrarily long and may include spaces and special characters.

Computational Mode affects the questions ProVal asks, when working in the Project, and the calculations ProVal performs. For example, ProVal may ask for assumptions to calculate target liability when the mode is U.S. Qualified (Private) Pension but will not ask for those assumptions when in any other mode. These are the available modes: U.S. Qualified Pension, OPEB (Retiree Medical), U.S. Public Pension, Universal Pension, Canadian Registered Pension, German Pension and U.K. Pension.

Check the Unhide All Objects box to make visible, and thus available, within the selected Project all objects in the Project’s computational mode, without the need to click the Unhide button on the dialog box of each object’s library. For example, if you create or edit a Project in the U.S. qualified mode with this box checked, then all Benefit Definitions, Valuation Assumptions and all the objects, in the current client, that exist in all other libraries associated with the U.S. qualified mode will be unhidden. The dialog boxes for the Benefit Definitions and Valuation Assumptions libraries will show all entries that exist in U.S. qualified mode, as will the dialog boxes for all other libraries.

Replace, Save as New, Erase and Cancel work in the same manner here as throughout ProVal. Clicking any of these buttons will bring you back to the list of Projects.